Back to school with less

Teacher hires on target; educators asked to do more with tighter budget

With the curtain set to rise Monday, Montgomery County school officials acknowledge that it will be a no-frills academic year that could be tougher on educators.

Given the tight operating budget, the challenge for teachers this year will be to deliver lesson plans without the support they once had, said Doug Prouty, president of the county teachers union.

"Everyone has to make do with less," he said. "This year, teachers need to focus on the tasks they need to get done. This year is not about anything new. The focus is on the main business of teaching kids."

The $2.13 billion county schools spending plan that took effect July 1 doesn't include money for new programs, but it also doesn't eliminate programs.

"There aren't a lot of changes in curriculum," Superintendent Jerry D. Weast said during a recent chat on Education Week's Web site, in response to a Gazette reporter's question.

Weast said administrators will continue to emphasize the school system's Seven Keys to College Readiness.

The keys, which were rolled out in April, focus on educating county parents on the classes their children need to take to be better prepared for higher education.

Overall, roughly 250 jobs were cut from the school system this year. Despite the staff reductions, administrators have maintained that class sizes are not going to increase.

Officials had expected to hire 500 new teachers before schools open. While the system has a few open special education teacher positions, "we are pretty much on target," schools spokeswoman Kate Harrison said Monday.

Among the positions eliminated under the current operating budget were 15 literacy coach positions in the high schools.

The coaches, who were added to the school system three years ago, worked directly with teachers in all content areas to help students learn to write and read more complex text.

Administrators have mentioned the influx of students with limited English-speaking skills and interrupted education, but the current spending plan eliminates 10 high school ESOL teacher positions, at a savings of $961,627.

Some 16 alternative teacher positions also were cut at a savings of $1 million. Those teachers provided emotional support to students.

Other smaller items have been cut, too. In prior years, the school system allotted staff development time for teachers. Under that program, substitute teachers would take over a class while the regular teacher received a day of professional development.

But even with the cuts, teacher morale is holding up, Prouty said, even though school system employees agreed to forgo their 5.3 percent cost-of-living increases for fiscal 2010 at a savings of $89 million.

At John Poole Middle School in Poolesville, the PTSA has set aside money to reimburse staff members who pay out of pocket for supplies, school lunches and other necessities for needy students, president Melanie Dahlen said.

But that figure has grown steadily the past three years, and now nearly equals the PTSA's biggest budget item, which is staff appreciation.

"That population [needy students] has increased tremendously," Dahlen said. "A lot of people in Poolesville have been hit."

But it's not just about teachers next year, as all school employees will have to stretch their materials.

For example, older copy machines will be replaced by refurbished, rather than new, ones and will be maintained by school personnel.

Also, the schools will have fewer building service workers, according to the budget. Therefore, the remaining staff at the school will have to clean more building space, and the system will use substitutes and overtime to cover staff shortages, according to the school system's budget summary.

"Things that we took for granted before will not be there because of the budget crunch," said Olga Shapiro, who teaches AVID — a reading intervention program — at Rockville High School. That won't impact the way she delivers instruction, Shapiro said.

Prouty said teachers recognize that the economic downturn is tough on everyone.

"People are worried, but teachers are focused on getting the job done, because they want to get the job done," he said. "Everyone's happy to be back at work. People are really excited about working with kids."